The Soul's Fire
by Fictions of Legends
Summary: She cut him off, screaming, "You're the monster! You put me here!" The once beautiful girl thrashed about, almost falling over at an angle that would've caused her bound wrists to break.  "You're the reason I'm here and you're the monster now!"


Summary: She cut him off, screaming, "You're the monster! You put me here!" The once beautiful girl thrashed about, almost falling over at an angle that would've caused her bound wrists to break. "You're the reason I'm here and you're the monster now!" (Post series finale.) Possible multi-chapter?

Disclaimer: All I own are the words on this page. The characters and the setting are all the property of Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino. Or Bryke, as the fandom knows them.

The Soul's Fire

Azula sat with her back towards the door to her cell. Her legs were crossed Indian-style on the cold metal floor, and her arms lay behind her back as if they were cuffed there, though no restraints rested on her wrists. She stared, unblinkingly, at the smooth and metallic wall in front of her.

"This is inhumane," her brother had complained once he first saw her lodgings. "Haven't you got any cells for firebenders?"

The guard replied that these _were_ the cells made for firebenders. And the now Fire Lord's eyes were opened even more to just how cruel his father had been.

The former Fire Princess's once beautiful amber eyes were lined with dark circles and wear. She hadn't closed her eyes for a while. Once they were open, they never truly shut again. She hadn't slept. And those amber eyes remained fixed on the wall, open extremely wide, as if forever alarmed, forever fearful. Her cell was dark, and with the illusions that form in ones eyes when they're left trained on a spot for too long, no one could possibly know what Azula was seeing at the moment in that blank metal wall.

All she could hear were the occasional echoing footsteps and the dripping of water from a sink located outside of her cell.

Her teeth were bared, her lower jaw protruding outward. With such a countenance, one would imagine that the princess's breathing would've been erratic and heavy. But it was barely noticeable that she was breathing at all. Guards put their fear of her on the side hourly so that they could go in and check on her, just to make sure she was still alive. The terror that she would throw a fireball at them was alive in all who entered her cage, but she never even stirred. She just kept on staring at the wall.

A few days ago, she'd been the most feared person in the Fire Nation, even more so than her father who had been threatening and had been exceptionally capable of world domination. But now, some of the institution workers had to stifle their giggles at the extremity of her descent from grace. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

There was a pair of muffled voices, coming down the corridor, but the princess heard nothing but the dripping water and their vaguely distinguishable footsteps. Suddenly, all noise ceased.

"Azula." The voice of the Fire Lord filled the cell. Zuko stood just outside of the Fire Princess's door, staring at her through the small horizontal slit that resided at his eyelevel. She only gave a slight response. Her head twitched a miniscule amount to the side, as if trying to hear him better. He frowned at this. Turning to the guard who stood at his left, he said, "I need to get in there and speak to her directly. I owe her at least that much."

There was a pause. The guard fiddled with his hands anxiously and Zuko stared down at those fiddling hands. The old him would have lost his temper by now, and would have shouted at the man to obey him, for he was the Fire Lord. But now, Zuko only found that his frown deepened.

Finally, the guard nodded his head in agreement. "Alright," he said. "You can go in, but we'll have to restrain her. It's for safety purposes, your majesty." His last statement was made in an apologetic tone, but Zuko didn't even acknowledge it.

"I know the capabilities of my own sister," he reminded the guard. Turning back to face Azula in her cell, he added, "Do what you have to."

The guard nodded after hesitating for a moment, and then stepped inside the cell. Thank goodness Azula's hands were already in cuffing position, thought Zuko. The man was shaky as it was. Zuko imagined that if he had actually had to touch the princess, he might've passed out. The man walked out of the cell as quickly as he possibly could. He looked like he had been trying to slow himself down in order to be respectful, but his feet just would not listen to him. Once he was back in the corridor, he grabbed the door's metal frame, turned to the Fire Lord and said, "I'll be out here if you need me at any point, sire. After Zuko gave him a nod of confirmation, the guard slammed the heavy door shut and stepped out of view.

The scarred Fire Lord turned to his younger sister. The cuffs, which bound her wrists, were connected to the floor of the cell, so even if she did acknowledge his presence, she couldn't show it that well. "Azula," he echoed from minutes before as he took a seat on the only bench in the room. It, too, like everything else, was metal.

"Zuzu, you came to visit me." She always regarded him as if _he_ were the younger sibling. Her voice sounded hoarse. Was she drinking at all? He'd have to ask the guards and doctors.

"I'm sorry you have to be held in this cage right now." His words were sincere. "They're building better rooms as we speak. Comfortable rooms with b—"

He was unable to finish. A stream of fire roared at him, stopping just before scorching his person. It licked at his palms, but he didn't mind. He almost felt he deserved it for putting her through what he was, no matter how horrible she may have been in the past. After the flames disappeared, he watched as she struggled to rise to her feet, groaning and grunting as if being tortured with every movement.

"Azula, please," he said, trying to quell her.

But she cut him off, screaming, "You're the monster! You put me here!" The once beautiful girl thrashed about, almost falling over at an angle that would've caused her bound wrists to break. "You're the reason I'm here and you're the monster now!"

"We both are," he said indifferently.

This seemed to calm the girl. Her movements became slowed and relaxed. Azula sat back down on the floor and, in a voice that was reminiscent of her former self, asked, "Where is Father? Is he dead? Did you kill him, Zuzu?

"No," he answered. His attention never left her face. And though she hid it from him now, his eyes still searched the darkness for hers. "The Avatar dealt with Father. Killing is not in his moral code, so he's alive, decaying in a prison cell right now." Zuko heard what sounded like shuffling on the floor or a sharp intake of air. His eyes narrowed. Nothing could hide his disgust for his father. "He's lucky I didn't face him. He wouldn't have gotten away so easily."

Half of Azula's face emerged from out of the shadows. Zuko saw as her lips moved to mouth the word, "Monster," once more. But the words that actually rose to the surface were, "You are a failure as a Fire Lord."

His glare deepened. "Why?" he asked. "He did the exact same thing. He did _worse_."

"You're not allowed to speak of Father that way!" she yelled.

"He forced our mother to kill our grandfather!" he yelled in return. "And then he banished her to Agni knows where!"

"Things were better off that way!"

"How can you say that?" Zuko shouted.

Azula scowled, her gaze off to the side, trying to see her brother as much as she could in her awkward position. "Father knows how to make right choices," she said. "Father is a smart man. Smarter than Mother is, smarter than Grandpa ever was, and smarter than _you'll_ ever _be_!"

Zuko sneered. His features arched with anger and revulsion. "Father always made the right decision, did he?" he practically spat. "So I guess he was right when he decided to throw you away."

Azula's eyes were no longer narrowed slits. Now they were wide as when Zuko had first arrived. The Fire Princess visibly jolted as if her brother's words had physically struck her back.

"Don't pretend you don't know," Zuko said. It was suddenly as if their roles had completely reversed. "Father was disappointed with you. He never cared about you. He never cared about either of us. You were just his pawn, and once he was done using you, he left you alone to rot. I know that, and you know that."

She was frozen once again, her eyes wide, her lower jaw protruding, nothing but the dark wall in front of her to look at. She had known that. But she had stopped herself from believing it.

Silence lingered in the air. With each second that passed, Zuko's frown became more pronounced. He was ashamed. How could he have let himself snap like that? Wordlessly, he stood. As he reached the door, he turned back to his sister. His body covered the only area from which light could flood the room—the slit in the door—and so he couldn't see her form shaking. The Fire Lord called for the guard, and was let out.

Since the former princess seemed relatively stable and still, the guard took the shackles off her wrists and ran back out through the door, shutting it as he did so. He and the teenager shared a melancholy look.

Zuko sighed. Amber eyes to the floor, he turned on his heel and began to walk away. He only got three steps, however, when he heard something low and incomprehensible come from his sister's cell. He instantly turned back. It only took one step to return to his original spot in front of the door. "What?" he asked.

She was huddled against the wall to Zuko's right now, and her knees were pressed to her chest. Azula's eyes were squeezed shut and her pale hands were glued to the sides of her face as if trying to cover her ears. "Don't go," she whispered. She'd sounded as if she were shivering. A strong sob escaped her lips. "Don't leave me." It was now that Zuko noticed that Azula's fingernails must've been sticking into her skin; twin trails of blood coursed down over her cheeks like tears. "Don't go. Please don't leave me here."

Zuko's heart churned in his chest. He reached a trembling hand out to the door and touched it tenderly, as if the door were just an extension of his sister's being. Through regretful teeth, he said, "I'm sorry." He'd forced his jaws to move and say the words. His sister's soft cries let themselves be known. This gentle sound was the most terrifying one he'd ever heard come from her.

After notifying the guard of her state, he left. He hadn't wanted to, but he knew he had to. It was one of the hardest things he'd ever done, leaving Azula there. And the ghost of her quiet weeping haunted him throughout the rest of the day.

-  
**AN: Whoa, it's been a while. I know this isn't what you guys expected - which was, most likely, more Seddie. My Seddie muse has been taking a bit of a hiatus, sadly, due mainly to iCarly's recent lack of...goodness. I don't want any flames, but...yeah, iCarly's been rather uninspiring for me lately. Though I have a few stories I'd started working on beforehand. I don't know when and if they'll ever get out, but they _do_ exist, so there's still hope. In the meantime, I have a Kingdom Hearts story I'm writing, which you guys can expect to see soon, and I may decide to continue this. Though I'm uncertain about that. Regardless, hope you guys enjoyed!**

**-Fictions**


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